Death of Me
by Ceillean
Summary: Dark Luke/Mara AU, set in a galaxy in which Luke loses his way for the last time. Songfic, Lyrics by Red


Watch You Crawl

He sat cross legged on the blood splattered ground, wrists atop his knees, blue eyes closed. Around him, he sensed the lives slowly dissipating, snuffed out into oblivion. Would they be mourned, he wondered. Would anyone care that these men and women had died at his hand because they served the wrong Mistress?

Luke turned his head aside slowly as he heard a young man groan for help. It wouldn't take much longer for him to die, he could feel it. And when the man finally took his final breath, the last image he saw was that of Luke smiling at him.

Slowly, he rose to his feet and beheld the carnage he'd wrought. It had taken only a few minutes. Death was so much easier than life. It took a thought and he broke a neck. A twist of his wrist and whoever stood in his way forgot to breath. A thrust with his lightsaber and his opponent fell to his knees with a smoking hole in his chest.

Yes, death was so much easier than life.

And in the end so much more fulfilling.

Stepping over the bodies of over a dozen fallen soldiers, Luke unclipped his lightsaber from his belt and held it tightly in one hand. He could sense her hiding in the depths of the forest, seemingly protected by the animal life and poisonous plant life that she commanded.

Luke smiled.

She was expecting Jedi Master Luke Skywalker, an honorable man who knew right from wrong, who cared about good and evil.

She wasn't expecting Luke Skywalker, the bitter man who'd lost everything because of her. The man who'd traded his soul for the power to put her down. This man wanted revenge and whatever it took, he would have it.

_Put my back against a wall  
>Watching, waiting<br>You never thought I'd get this far  
>Beneath your skin<em>

He couldn't quite recall exactly when it happened. But he remembered vividly how.

Mara had been beautiful that night. An angel of death with open wings ready to swoop down towards the living and take what she thought was hers. Leia had been the first of her victims. A quiet death for his sister, an untraceable poison that had stopped her heart; Mara had sent Luke footage and he'd watched, gruesomely entranced by the way his twin had slowly succumbed and eventually stopped breathing.

A part of Luke had died that night. A part of his soul had been splintered and it had been Mara's doing.

Han had left the galaxy as a smuggler should. At least according to Mara. Quietly laughing, Mara had detonated his ship after hiding a bomb aboard. Han had seemed peaceful before he'd died, quiet and rested for he had had no idea that his wife had taken the step to the netherworld just moments before.

Thinking back to the moment he'd seen the footage, Luke felt the anger rise within. It was blackness in his veins thick as tar, soiling him, squeezing the light from his heart that he had fought so hard to maintain.

But the moment rage had taken over, the moment he no longer knew who he was, the moment he had lost himself, was when Mara had gone after the children.

She'd killed them, one by one, one after the other…and she'd let them watch. She'd let them choose who would go first.

Luke remembered how his heart had broken. How it had shattered, the sound echoing in his ears for weeks. He'd lost the goodness and the light, willingly replacing it with so much darkness that it seeped through his skin, that whoever touched him recoiled because of the icy coldness.

Luke knew Mara thought by killing his family, she would kill him. He knew that she thought he was weak, coming to face her only to make it easier for him to be with his family once again. He wouldn't give her the satisfaction of coming face to face with a broken man.

No.

He would have his revenge.

One way or the other.

_I will fight until the end  
>Get ready to collide<br>And I will watch you fall again  
>I'll bury you alive<br>You tried to bring me to my knees  
>You tried to take it all<br>Now I will stand and watch you crawl_

She looked beautiful.

Her red hair danced with the cool breeze, strands coiling around her slender shoulders. Her smile was breathtaking and her green eyes twinkled as the sun shone upon her.

Luke sighed.

Once, long ago, he had thought he could love her. Once, long ago, he had imagined a life with her. But she'd changed. She'd stepped over the threshold of light to darkness, a point of no return. And anger had owned her ever since, darkness hovered about her like a cloud.

"Didn't think you'd have the guts to come." She said sweetly, hands on her hips. "Got my messages, did you? Did you like the footage?"

He refused to take the bait. Luke answered by activating his lightsaber. The brilliant green blade sprang to life with a snap-hiss that invoked fear in most beings. Mara merely smiled.

"Are you trying to intimidate me?" She said, stepping closer. The glossy black material of her boots reflected the light of the sun as she moved. "Sorry to disappoint. It's not working."

"Answer me this." Luke said, his voice deadly calm and quiet. "Why? Why kill them all?"

Mara shrugged. "Because I could. I was in the unique position to strike you where it hurt the most. I wanted you on your knees, Skywalker." The smallest frown appeared on her forehead. She looked at him, eyes wandering from head to toe. "Although I'm surprised to see you ready to strike. I take it you're here to kill me?" She laughed. "Do you want revenge for what I've done? How adorable."

"I will bring the entire universe down on you if I have to. I will watch you crawl to your death, Mara."

She threw her head back and laughed. "You can try."

_I put you back where you belong  
>Hopeless, fading<br>And I will rise while you  
>Calm the monster you have fed<em> 

Luke had learned a lot about the Force over the past years. He knew more than Mara could ever hope to understand so it granted him joy to see the smile wiped off her face when he grabbed her in a Force grip that she couldn't escape from.

Arms pinned to her sides, face angled straight ahead, she narrowed green eyes. "That you all you got, farmboy?"

"I'm just getting started."

The cool breeze suddenly turned into a heavy wind as Luke drew on the Force. Energy from all living things granted to him by the forest and its inhabitants. Clouds covered the bright yellow sun and darkness took over.

"You will never redeem yourself." He said, his voice deeper as usual, booming through the forest. "I will not let you. For what you've done, your punishment will be eternal."

Mara closed her eyes while she laughed. She pulled the Force towards her, chipping away at his hold. Her certainty went brittle and crumbled a moment later. Her laughter choked in her throat and her beautiful green eyes went wide.

"No…" She whispered, barely audible over the whooshing of the wind around her. Luke was taking her powers. Bit by bit she watched as he grew stronger, as pure energy was sucked from her being. "How?"

Luke laughed. A silent chuckled.

He shut off his lightsaber and threw it aside, angling his head back towards the woman who had managed to destroy his soul. "On your knees."

His voice, soft and even, was a command in her mind. Fighting against it hurt and she screamed, loud and high pitched, as she tried to defy the order clinging to her thought.

"Obey me, Mara. On your knees."

She breathed heavily. "No."

"Now."

But there was no resisting his power. There was the crack of bones and Mara's scream grew louder, her pain bringing a smile to Luke's face. She fell to her knees, her head bowed before him.

Right where she belonged.

_Let you drown in your despair  
>Now nothing can save you<em>

"You took from me what mattered most." Luke said, tilting his head back as the wind swept dead leaves, twigs and dirt around him. He raised his arms to the side, the Force tingling in his fingertips. Little wisps of dark side energy shot from his hands, crackling like thunder as he controlled the power flowing through his body.

"I take from you your life." He pulled his arms back and then pushed forward. Blue and purple energy of light pooled from the tips of his fingers and enveloped Mara in a dark light.

She screamed, still not able to move because he held her tightly in his grip. Animals in the forest scrambled away as they instinctively knew that this place would no longer be safe. Once Luke was done, the forest would be a well for the dark side.

He no longer cared.

Mara's voice gave away first. And when her muscles failed to hold her upright, when her nervous system shut down, Luke let go.

She lay before him, skin blistered and smoking.

She was broken.

He smiled.

_I will fight until the end  
>Get ready to collide<br>And I will watch you fall again  
>I'll bury you alive<br>You tried to bring me to my knees  
>You tried to take it all<br>Now I will stand and watch you crawl  
><em>

He'd taken her power, he'd taken her life.

Revenge was sweet, yes. And he smiled because he was content.

And yet…he no longer knew who he was.

Luke Skywalker, former Jedi Master, had lost himself to the Dark Side of the Force forever.

This time there was no going back.


End file.
